Six Senate results too close to call

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The race to fill six Senate spots was still too close to call
and five House of Representatives seats were still on a knife edge,
according to the Australian Electoral Commission.

Last night the Coalition had 19 senators to add to the 19 Senate
seats it won in 2001 - one short of a majority when new senators
take office on July 1.

According to the commission, there was one Senate seat in doubt
in NSW, one in Victoria, two in Queensland, one in South Australia
and one in Western Australia. The Greens' candidate, Christine
Milne, was "very likely" to take the last position in Tasmania.

The Coalition could still win power in its own right if the
National Party wins a spot in Queensland.

The Government yesterday hosed down speculation that if it wins
control of the Senate it would implement a radical agenda,
especially in industrial relations and electoral reform.

When a Government last had control of the upper house - Malcolm
Fraser in 1981 - Coalition senators crossed the floor to defeat
legislation on a number of occasions. They stopped the government
from removing funeral benefits for pensioners, weakening the power
of the Senate, and stepped in to protect the Franklin River.

Antony Green, the ABC's election analyst, believes the socially
conservative Family First party will win in Victoria, giving the
Government a majority 39 votes if the party voted with the
Coalition.

Queensland is the most complex count, Mr Green said.

Four Coalition and two Labor senators could be elected, but the
fate of the parties depended on the distribution of just 3500
votes.

Family First has already spoken to the Prime Minister, John
Howard, after polling well on Saturday.

The five "close" lower house seats - cited by the electoral
commission because they have a two-candidate preferred result of
between 50.50 per cent and 49.50 per cent - are Wakefield,
Hindmarsh and Kingston in South Australia, Swan in Western
Australia and Bonner in Queensland.

However, seats like Parramatta and Richmond in NSW are also
still too close to call.

Mr Howard may also be denied two Labor seats in Western
Australia after an extra batch of about 50 ballot papers were found
in the marginal seat of Swan and Labor moved ahead by almost 1000
votes in Cowan.

The Member for Swan, Kim Wilkie was ahead by about 450 votes
last night, a Labor Party figure said.

The Labor MP for Cowan, Vietnam veteran Graham Edwards,
increased his lead and now looks set to retain the seat.

The last Senate spot in NSW is expected to go to Labor or the
Greens. The Greens are also polling well in Western Australia and
Queensland.

The Greens leader, Bob Brown, yesterday conceded defeat in the
NSW seat of Cunningham where Michael Organ lost to Labor's Sharon
Bird. But he expected the party to have senators in Tasmania,
Western Australia and Queensland.

"It's very rare that the Prime Minister and I agree," Senator
Brown said. "But ... he concedes that Queensland's not going to be
picked up by the Nationals to get them 39 seats, or Western
Australia." Senator Brown said it was "very likely" that Family
First would pick up the last Senate seat in Victoria.